My 2nd Olympic Triathlon

Today (19 June) I completed my third Olympic-distance Triathlon. Now, as I don't think there were any pictures taken of me during this triathlon, I will not be blogging about it in detail. Exactly one week ago; however, I completed my second Olympic Tri, and there were plenty of pictures taken during that event, so I will be blogging about it.
First off, what an incredible site! While sleeping ranks high on things I'd like to be doing at 5:30 on a Sunday, if I hadn't been up, I would have missed this.

At 6:30 about 40 racers got into the water for the first leg of the triathlon. 30 of them were doing the Sprint Distance, and 10 of us were doing the Olympic.
I'll admit that while I'm decent at swimming, it is definitely my weak area in the triathlon. This is probably due to the fact that the only time I swim is when I'm doing triathlon races. 1,500 meters is not extremely difficult, but in the open water you not only have to deal with the tide (which isn't too bad where we swim), but you also have to try to swim in a straight line (something I suck at). As such, even though I only get credit for swimming 1,500M, it probably ended up being more than that.

After 4 laps and approximately 32 minutes, I was out of the water, and onto the 6-lap, 40K Bike portion of the race.

As I said, I'm not really fast on the swim, so the bike is where I start to make up my time. For several triathlons now I've been duct taping a Gatorade-filled water bottle in between my aero bars. It's definitely not classy, but it gets the job done, and keeps me hydrated. I've also learned my lesson and make sure I have a lid on my bottle so my straw doesn't bounce out of the bottle the first time I hit a pothole.

The hardest thing about the bike portion of the race for me, is keeping track of the laps. Six laps on the same flat course can get to be a little monotonous so I try to focus on the road ahead of me and pedal as fast as I can. With only 10 people doing the same distance, it is hard to keep track if you are not close to someone who you are racing. Luckily, Stephanie was there to not only take pictures, but tell me when I could transition to the run.

After an approximately 71 minute bike ride, I was on my feet for the last 10K. As with every triathlon, by the time I get to the run my legs feel like a combination of cement and Jell-O. I'd say the run is my strong point too, and is where I tend to pass the most people. I think it comes down to sucking it up, and gutting it out. It's hot, you're tired, but you have to finish.

47 minutes after finishing the bike, I was crossing the finish line. Total time was 2 hours, 29 minutes, and 47 seconds. Although it was only my second Olympic-distance Triathlon, it was my new personal best. I was rather surprised to find out that I came in first of the 10 people doing that distance. I still say it's all about finishing, not when you finish (after all there are no trophies or medals), but it is pretty cool to win.

I'll talk more about my third Olympic Tri later, but I know I've been bad about updating the blog and posting pictures, so I thought I would go ahead and post this one.

My First (Olympic) Tri

Alright, let's do the rewind bit again. This time, go back about 7 days to Sunday morning. Long before I put 4 stitches and a deep gash in my thumb. Several hours before my blog entry that week; hell, before most people were even up that day, I was standing waist deep in "freezing" water. Okay, the water was probably about 78 degrees, but for someone used to temperature in the mid 80's, 78 is chilly. I'm on the far right of the pic with a silver swim cap. It was right around this time when I found out about 40 of the people in the water were doing a Sprint distance triathlon, and only 10 of us were doing the Olympic distance tri. I was a little nervous with such a small field of competitors, but my main goal was just to finish.

A little bit after 6:30 the buzzer/horn went off and we were swimming...2 laps (750M) for the Sprint Triathletes, and 4 laps (1500M) for the Olympic distance triathletes. The picture below shows me taking a much needed breath as I struggled to round one of the buoys. I'll be honest, the 1500M swim was a little bit slower than I had anticipated. That is probably due to two factors. One, I haven't swam since my last triathlon which was the 3rd race in the Sprint Tri Series in July 2010 (check out the blog HERE). Not only did my lack of swimming play a factor in the slower time, but the tide did a number on all us. It seemed that for most of the swim I was fighting the current one way or another. after my 3rd lap of swimming, I pretty much figured that I was the last person in the water. Sure enough all of the 750M swimmers were out of the water, but there were actually a few 1500M swimmers behind me. It wasn't a huge lead by any means, and I took little satisfaction out of it, as my first Olympic distance triathlon was a race against myself more than anyone else. Most importantly as swimming is far from my strong point, I was just glad to be done with the water. Total time recorded for the swim was: 32 minutes, 57 seconds.

I didn't exactly rush through the transition from swim to bike knowing that I had 40 Km (~24 miles ahead of me), but I wasn't strolling either. The picture below is my finishing one of the six laps. What you probably can't tell is that there is a water bottle duct taped to the front of my bike. I had inserted a straw into the bottle so I could drink without leaving the "aero" position (a homemade version of this), but I wasn't counting on the bumpy road. Shortly after reaching the half way point of lap 1, my straw bounced out of my bottle, and I was left with no way of drinking my Gatorade/water mix. It didn't really matter...most of it splashed out as I seemed to hit every bump in the road. Total time for the bike ride: 1 hour, 11 minutes, 48 seconds.

My legs felt like lead. I was tired and a little dehydrated, but before I could call it quits, I had to run 10km (6.2 miles). My only real goal was to finish at this point. I wasn't quite sure how many people were in front of me or behind me, and I really didn't care.

45 minutes, 38 seconds after starting the 10K I was done...my total time was 2 hours, 30 minutes, 23 seconds. I ended up placing 4th overall, not bad for a first time, but more than anything I was glad I finished.

Here I am almost done, and the prize for finishing was better than any t-shirt or medal...a ridiculously big breakfast at Denny's. I am sure I replenished every calorie burned with their famous "Scrambler," but it was good, I was tired, and I totally earned it.

The Stick-N-Back Triathlon (JUST DO IT)

In my last blog I mentioned that if you're living on Guam and will be on the island January 16th, then you need to complete the Stick-N-Back Super Sprint Triathlon. Just a year ago it was my very first triathlon, and I loved it. If you've ever thought (even briefly) about doing a triathlon, then this is the one for you. If you're looking at spicing up your New Year's resolution to "get in shape", this is a great way to do that too. There is no training required. It's called a "Super Sprint" for a reason; it's super short. There is a 200M swim; a 10K bike ride, and a 4K run. If it's anything like last year, there will be about 160 participants, and of those, only 5-10 will be competitive triathletes. Everyone else will be there to "just do it". There are no prizes for coming in first, everyone gets the same t-shirt (it was a sweet shirt last year).


Like I said, there's no training required. You don't even need to sign up early for it. Kevin and I didn't, so we ended up being the last people to be registered for the race (#160 and #161). That being said, I'd recommend registering for it (though it's definitely not mandatory).

You can see in the picture above and the one below of me crossing the finishing line that I had on fancy "triathlon shorts". I also have a road bike, but that is certainly not a requirement. A lot of the people out there will be swimming/biking/running in whatever swim trunks they have. The same goes for a bike, and you'll see everything from expensive triathlon bikes to "cheap-o" bikes. The only requirement is that it have two wheels and pedals.

So there you have it. The "Stick-N-Back" is a great way to get a little taste of triathlons. If you don't live on Guam, Google the city you live in and "triathlon". I'm fairly confident you'll find a triathlon club, and I'm willing to bet they'll have a "Super Sprint Tri" that they'll offer this year. I know that if you're in the panhandle of Florida, Eglin AFB does "My First Tri" in June. If you do it and love, you've found a great new hobby. If you do it, and aren't thrilled about triathlons, at least you did a triathlon. Check out this website (conveniently called Beginner Triathlete) for more details on training for (if you insist) and finishing your first triathlon.

Okay, back to running. I was able to knock out 3.1 miles before PT and 1 mile after PT on Thursday. Today I was able to do 9.1 miles which included 4.1 miles pre/post PT and a five-miler for PT (including about 2 miles of trail running). The trail running slowed me down quite a bit, but it was a nice doing a different run, and the view of the ocean was really incredible too.

With the 9 miles today, that puts me at 25 for the week. That means that I don't have to run this weekend, but I probably will do it anyway. I've heard it's beneficial to my health.

Until my next entry, just keep running.

Mid Week Check-Up

5 Days into the new year and things are still going well (though never as planned). On the positive side of it, perhaps the "accountability" of a blog keeps me focused and motivated to stick to the plan even when the plan falls through. For starters, on Monday, I had an early morning (6:30) meeting to attend. Usually at about this time I'd be halfway through my morning workout (Monday's dedicated to Strength training). I suppose I had the option of waking up an hour earlier than normal, but that's just not going to happen. Typically, I like to do my workouts in the morning; by the afternoon I'm drained and not in the mood, and on a typical week I might have called Monday a wash and justified my lack of physical activity by noting that I ran Saturday and Sunday and would be at PT on Tuesday. As the first week of the year, and still eager to reach my goal, though, so I sucked it up and did my workout in the evening. Not coincidentally, I noted that my upper body was extra sore the next day during PT.
So I know it's silly and minor deviation, but a bump in the road nonetheless. Tuesday and today went just as I hoped logging 4.1 miles and 8 miles respectively. Still, I know all weeks won't be the easy on me, and I will face many challenges in the coming months. That's when I'll really need to stay focused, stay positive, and keep running.
By the way, if you interested in doing some extreme running, look into the "Badwater Ultramarathon." It's a 135-mile race that starts in Death Valley and ends at Mt Whitney. The race is from July 11-13. Go to http://www.badwater.com/ for more details. If that's a little too extreme you can check out http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/races/#usa for a ultra running race near you. If that's still too extreme and you live on Guam, I HIGHLY recommend the Stick 'n Back Super-Sprint Triathlon. Get more information and the entry form here. I'll give you more details about this awesome race in my next blog, but if you've ever even thought about doing a triathlon, this is the one for you.
Until then...(I still haven't figured out how to end it)